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Oracle to Become a Linux Power?

While Oracle balks at the price tag of a top Linux distributor, CEO Larry Ellison has considered buying Novell and may look into other approaches to getting Oracle into the Linux business. (DesktopLinux)

In an interview with the Financial Times, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that Oracle may be considering buying a Linux company in the future.

After considering open sources and Linuxs pluses and minuses, Ellison has concluded that for Oracle, "We dont have to fight open source, we have to exploit open source," Ellison reportedly said.

That doesnt mean, however, that Ellison will be pursuing Novell or Red Hat with the ardor that he chased down and then bought PeopleSoft and Siebel.

While Oracle uses Linux in its own offices and as a foundation operating system for its major Oracle application platform, Ellison remains unconvinced that owning major open-source programs makes sense. Hes concerned that because a company cant fundamentally own an open-source programs intellectual property, it may not make sense for a company like Oracle.

Ellison told Financial Times reporter Richard Waters that "I dont see how we could possibly buy Red Hat. ... Im not going to spend $5 billion or $6 billion for something that can just be so completely wiped off the map." He also indicated that he had considered making an offer on Novell.